Junk
by Ruingaraf
Summary: “Better not give me any junk!” The statement that had once been a threat turned to one of affectionate teasing. An analysis of Internet relationships and a personal tribute to .hack//INFECTION. Kite-BlackRose friendship.


"Junk"

Fandom: .hack//INFECTION  
Rating: K+  
Summary: "Better not give me any junk!" The statement that had once been a threat turned to one of endearment. An analysis of Internet relationships and a personal tribute to .hack//INFECTION. Kite-BlackRose friendship.  
Notes: My personal response to .hack//INFECTION. I'm playing MUTATION now, Cubia was horrible. And by the way, Kite's April Fool's joke was Aromatic Grass. I always saw him having a weird sense of humor. XD

* * *

"_Better not give me any junk!!!" The three exclamation marks reflected off the computer screen, daring him to try to give her something worthless._

It had started as a serious statement, once upon a time, back when they had been itty-bitty newbies. BlackRose was new to the game just like him, but she would never admit it. Oh, no. She was far too proud to admit that she didn't have the foggiest idea what she was doing. So she staved off bad trade deals with threats and belligerence.

At times, Kite wondered if the two of them were even on the same side.

"_Better not give me any junk!" she warned him now, but lacking some of her initial hostility. At least, he thought so. The exclamation marks had dropped for three to only one, after all._

It had continued as their levels progressed. When _The World_ just been a giant mystery to unlock, and when it was just a comfort to look for the cause of unexplained comas. They had never expected to find anything, but they had. It was something bigger than both of them, bigger than the Net itself.

By then, they were at most casual acquaintances, Kite decided. At least she didn't seem to hate him anymore.

"_Better not give me any junk!" she remarked bitterly, adding an emoticon that showed she was rolling her eyes. Evidently, she had not thought her April Fools present was very funny._

It had lost all seriousness by the time they had hit level twelve, though Kite had to reprimand himself for using character levels as a measure of time. He found that he didn't know how many weeks, how many hours in the dark it had been since BlackRose had started talking to him as more than an ally. Occasionally they began to talk of real life – of sports, of friends, and of the headaches created by staring at a monitor for so long.

The two of them were what was called 'net buddies', Kite assumed. Friends were only something you could have in real life, after all.

"_Better not give me any junk." she commented, and he could practically feel the sarcasm dripping through his keyboard. She knew perfectly well by now that he went of out his way to buy better equipment for her as well as himself._

It had become a complete joke by the time they got their first real answers on their quest. She'd confessed to him that the reason she was so worried about Yatsuhiko was that her brother, Kazu, was in the same condition. She'd laid her heart out to him, and he'd done his best to console her and move forward in their quest. The two of them had exchanged cell phone numbers, in case something came up when the other was offline.

Kite found that he didn't know what to call their relationship. His mother had told him that he spent too much time on the computer, and that it wasn't healthy.

"_Better not give me any junk…" she quipped, and he laughed out loud. He felt her laughing too, never mind the fact that she was in a different prefecture, far away from him. When they played together, he was talking to a friend, and they were sitting in the same room, giggling and chatting like they had known each other forever._

It had become a symbol of their odd friendship, this running joke. Even though it no longer held any meaning, they would say it every so often to remind each other of the old days. When the battle with Skieth came, they kept an open cell phone line between them, speaking to one another instead of typing. They'd both agreed that it was easier, in case the fiend hacked the text, but really, it was so that they would know if the other slipped into a coma.

It was with pride that Kite called BlackRose his best friend, despite the fact that he'd never seen her face.


End file.
